A Good Day To Hit The Links Before A New Post Tomorrow!

What’s It To Me?

There was no Bonus Round last week. A substantial portion of my email subscribers use Gmail addresses and gmail apparently has a size limit to emails. I didn’t know that, but the folks at SubStack do, and handily provided a banner warning that my graphics heavy post was approaching that limit. So, rather than have my gmail subscribers see a truncated post, I actually edited out a couple of paragraphs and left out the bonus round. Sorry.

For tomorrow, let’s expand a little on how to rehearse for rehearsal. Playing in a band or jamming with friends can be trying at best without some preparation. Preparation includes basic skills with the instrument, and if you know the set list for an upcoming performance, familiarity at least with the songs is a must!! We’ll talk through things to think about in preparing for rehearsal that will make it all a lot easier for everyone come time for actual performance in front of an audience!

For today, let’s acknowledge first that being on an email list can sometimes be annoying. You’re busy, you open your mail app and there are potentially dozens of emails, some interesting and important, others spam ads and junk. That said, I’m always glad to see some of the emails I get from lists. Like most of you, probably, my communications with friends and family are via text messages now, rather than email. Email, then, becomes less important, except when it informs. Emails that only want to sell me something get deleted pretty quickly at best, or marked as junk. I don’t mind emails that want to sell me something if they have some interesting content included. For that reason, even though there’s a pretty certain chance there will be an included sales pitch, I’ve posted some links to business emails that generally, or at least often, include informative content. Your mileage may vary.

Soundfly - Soundfly has a lot of informative courses on a variety of subjects - most paid, but I think at least some are free.

American Songwriter - I have a subscription to AS, so I’m not sure if you can receive their emails without one, but the content is valuable if you’re becoming (or thinking of becoming) a songwriter

Blues Guitar Unleashed - by blues guitarist Griff Hamlin, lots of good stuff here, mostly for folks playing the blues on electric guitar (think Stevie Ray Vaughan), but some acoustic blues courses as well ($), lots of tips and insight in the emails, often about playing with other instrumentalists.

Carvin Audio - I’m a huge fan of vintage and new Carvin amps and audio gear. Their emails have great articles, especially for performing artists.

Disc Makers - articles including YouTube videos by the CEO on a variety of topics useful to musicians. Disc Makers owns CD Baby.

Truth: all of these sites are going to try to sell you something, and many of their products are worth the price (standard disclaimer - I don’t have an financial interests in any of them). I link to them here because the emails they send usually don’t JUST try to sell you something - really great articles, tips and insider information in them, FWIW…

Bonus Round: A great Americana/country song, with a quick tempo and meaningful lyrics by one of the bright female stars of the genre since the early 2000s.

See you tomorrow!!

Cheers, and keep playing!!

Michael Acoustic